Synchronizing arrangement



May 13, 1952 M. R. LAING ET AL SYNCHRONIZING ARRANGEMENT Filed June lO,1948 Bnventors HRV/N L17/NG WHTT NYE/f5 @a/8&1@

(ttorneg Patented May 13, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE Minn.,

assignors to Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company, Minneapolis,Minn., a corporation of Delaware Application June 10, 1948, Serial N o.32,208

4 Claims. 1

This invention is concerned with synchronizing arrangements and moreparticularly with synchronizing arrangements for telemetric systemswherein indicators or other members connected to the transmitter andreceiver of said telemetric system may get out of synchronism with eachother. It is therefore an object of this invention to devise anarrangement whereby members attached to the transmitter and receiver ofa telemetric system may be synchronized rapidly and easily.

A further object of the invention is to devise such a system whereby amanual control is utilized to unbalance a telemetric system to causerotation of the member attached to the receiver.

Another object is to devise such a telemetric system whereby a manuallycontrolled clutching means is placed between the receiver rotor and themotor means used for rebalancing the telemetric system for the purposeof preventing the motor means from rebalancing the system upon operationof the manual control.

Means for accomplishing the above-mentioned objects are explained indetail hereinafter and may be perused in conjunction with the singleligure of the drawing showing a telemetric system utilizing the featuresof the invention.

The drawing shows a mechanical shaft 1, driven by a source of a signalnot shown, for rotating the master counter 8. A second mechanicalconnection 9 driven by the mechanical shaft 1 extends from the mastercounter 8 to a rotor IU comprising part of a transmitter in an Autosynsystem.

The rotor I is energized from a pair of power leads II and I2 through atransformer 44 having its primary 45 connected to leads II and I2through conductors I3 and I4 and its secondary 4S connected to the rotorI3 through leads 52 and 53. The secondary of the Autosyn transmitter isa three winding stator composed of windings I5, I6 and I1 connectedtogether at a common junction.

The stator windings I5, I6 and I1 are connected to corresponding statorwindings 23, 2| and 22 in the Autosyn receiver unit by electricalconnections 23, 24 and 25 respectively. The receiver rotor 26 isconnected to an amplifier 21 through leads 30 and 3|.

With therelative positions of the two rotors i0 and '6 as shown in thedrawing there will be no signalv output from the Autosyn system.

` shown.

The ampliiier 21 is energized from power leads Il and I2.

The output of amplifier 21 is re versible in phase and is fed to areversible'motor 32 through leads 33, 34 and 35. The amplifier and motorcombination may be any such combination wherein the amplifier is able totake a signal input of reversible phase, amplify it and send the output,also of reversible phase, to a reversible motor to energize the motor.Such a combination is disclosed in an Upton patent, 2,423,534.

The motor 32 operates two mechanical shafts 36 and 50. Shaft 50 operatesto rotate remote counter 41 at the same speed as mechanical shaft 1operates the master counter 8.

Shaft 36 operates from motor 32 through a clutch 31 todrive a mechanicalconnection 40 to actuate a gear train shown composed of gears 4I and 42.Rotation *of gear 42 rotates mechanical shaft 43 to rotate rotor 26 inthe Autosyn receiver. On the opposite end of mechanical shaft 43 fromthe rotor 26 is a manual handle 5I which is separate from clutch 31 andis pushed in to engage gear 42.

yThe clutch 31 is a friction clutch and is so A second clutch 54 may beplaced between the mechanical shaft 43 and manual handle 5I to preventthe handle 5I from normally rotating with shaft 43. A type of clutchwhich would answer this purpose would be a dogr clutch. This clutch hasa spring, not shown, which the handle 5I must be pushed against to makethe mechanical connection to shaft 43 and which releases the connectionwhen the handle is re leased.

The operation of this circuit is as follows. With the circuit as shownand no signal operating to rotate shaft 1 the rotors I0 and 26 areelectrically displaced by so that there is no signal output from rotor26 of the Autosyn receiver and thus no error signal to be amplified byamplifier 21 to energize motor 32 and as a result the entire system isat rest.

Upon rotation of shaft 1, however, the master counter 8 will be rotatedas will rotor I0 of the transmitter Autosyn This will cause adisplacement between the relative position of rotors I0 and 26 and willinduce a signal in rotor 26 which will be sent to amplifier 21. Thissignal will be amplified and sent to motor 32 to energize the motor inone direction or the other depending upon the phase of the signal.Energization of motor 32 will cause the remote counter 41 to rotate insynchronism with the master counter 8. The motor 32 will also causeoperation of the gear train and the mechanical shaft 43 to cause therotor 26 to follow rotor I0.

' When rotor I0 ceases to rotate, rotor 26 will again be in a position90 from the position of rotor l and the system will come to rest.

As long as the system is completely energized the remote counter and themaster counter will remain in synchronism when a mechanical rotationsignal is sent through the shaft 1. If, however, while the entire systemis deenergized, rotation of shaft 1 occurs, it will cause rotation ofmaster counter 8 while the remote counter will not be rotated. As aresult the two counters will get out of synchronism.

If the two counters are out of synchronism they may be resynchronized inthe following manner.

With the master counter at rest, that is, Awith no signal input into thesystem the manual handle l is pushed in to engage the dog clutch andthen the handle 5I is rotated slightly in the proper direction so as torotate the rotor 26 slightly with respect to rotor IU and thus cause asignal of the proper phase to be induced in rotor 26.

This signal from rotor 2S is amplified through amplifier 21 and sent tomotor 32. The resulting energization of motor 32 causes operation ofremote counter 41 through shaft 50. The motor 32 also attempts tooperate the gear train through clutch 31 to rotate mechanical shaft 43to bring the rotor 26 back to a zero signal position. With the manualhandle 5l being held in such position that a signal continues to beinduced in rotor 26 the clutch 31 is caused to slip and the motor 32 isineffective upon rotor 26.

When the two counters are again in synchronism the handle 5I is releasedand the motor 32 drives rotor 2S into a zero signal position.

It is understood, of course, that movement out of rest position of rotor26 by the manual handle 5l in one direction causes the remote counter 41to be actuated in one direction while movement out of rest position ofrotor 26 by the manual handle 5| in the opposite direction causes theremote counter 41 to be rotated in the other direction. This is becausethe phase of the signal sent to amplier 21 depends upon the direction ofunbalance of the Autosyn system.

Thus it can be seen that the circuit shown and described provides aneffective method for achieving the objects'set out hereinabove in thisspecication.

It is to be understood that this invention is not intended to be limitedto the particular telemetric system shown but that it is equallyadaptable to any system wherein a clutch which may be controlledmanually may be positioned between the means for rebalancing and themeans to be rebalanced. The invention is to be further construed asbeing limited only to the extent of the claims hereafter appended.

We claim as our invention:

l. In combination: telemetric signal apparatus comprising a transmitterhaving a movable element, a receiver having a movable element, and motormeans; 4load means; means connecting said motor means to said loadmeans; means connecting said telemetric apparatus to said motor meansVso that said motor means is effective to drive said load means wheneversaid telemetric apparatus is unbalanced by movement of the movableelement of said transmitter; yieldable friction clutching means of thetype which slips when the movement of the .driven member is retarded bymore than va Apredetermined force;

means connecting said motor means `to said movfable element of saidreceiver throughsaid clutching means so that normally said motor meansis effective to position said movable element to rebalance saidapparatus; and a member designed to be manually actuated and connectedto said movable element of said receiver so that upon said member beingmoved and held, said telemetric apparatus is unbalanced to cause saidmotor means to drive said load means and said clutching means is slippedso that said motor means is prevented from operating said receiverthrough said clutch to rebalance said apparatus.

2. In combination: telemetric signal apparatus comprising a transmitterhaving a movable element, a receiver having a movable element, and motormeans; load means; means connecting said motor means to said load means;means connecting said telemetric apparatus to said motor means so thatsaid motor means is effective to drive said load means whenever saidtelemetric apparatus is unbalanced by movement of the movable element ofsaid transmitter; first yieldable friction clutching means of the typewhich slips when the movement of the driven member is retarded by morethan a predetermined force; means connecting said motor means to saidmovable element of said receiver through said rst clutching means sothat normally said motor means is effective to position said movableelement to rebalance said apparatus; second non-yieldable clutchingmeans; and a member designed to be manually actuated and connected tosaid movable element of said receiver through said second clutchingmeans so that upon said member being moved and held, said telemetricapparatus is unbalanced to cause said motor means to drive said loadmeans and said first clutching means is slipped so that said motor meansis prevented from operating said receiver through said first clutchingmeans to rebalance said apparatus.

3. In combination: telemetric signal apparatus comprising a transmitterhaving a movable element, a receiver having a movable element, and motormeans; a master counter; means driving said transmitter in synchronismwith said master counter; load means comprising a remote counter; meansconnecting said motor means to said remote counter; means connectingsaid telemetric apparatus to said motor means so that said motor meansis effective to drive said remote counter whenever said telemetricapparatus is unbalanced by movement of the movable element of saidtransmitter; yieldable friction clutching means of the type which slipswhen the movement of the driven member is retarded by more than apredetermined force; means connecting said motor means to said movableelement of said receiver through said clutching means so that normallysaid motor means is effective to position said movable element torebalance said apparatus; and a member designed to be manually actuatedand connected to said movable element of said receiver so that uponsaidmember being moved and held, upon said remote counter being out ofsynchronism with said master counter, said telemetric apparatus isunbalanced to cause said motor means to drive said remote counter intosynchronism with said master counter and said clutching means is slippedso that said motor means is prevented from operating said receiverthrough said clutching means torebalance .said apparatus,

4. In combination: telemetric signal apparatus comprising a transmitterhaving a movable element, a receiver having a movable element, and motormeans; a master counter; means driving said transmitter in synchronismwith said master counter; load means comprising a remote counter; meansconnecting said motor means to said remote counter; means connectingsaid telemetric apparatus to said motor means so that said motor meansis effective to drive said remote counter whenever said telemetricapparatus is unbalanced by movement of the movable element of saidtransmitter; first yieldable friction clutching means of the type whichslips when the movement of the driven member is retarded by more than apredetermined force; means connecting said motor means to said movableelement of said receiver through said rst clutching means so thatnormally said motor means is effective to position said movable elementto rebalance said apparatus; second non-yieldable clutching means; and amember designed to be manually actuated and connected to said movableelement of said receiver through said second clutching means so thatupon said member being moved and held, upon said remote counter beingout of synchronism with said master counter, said telemetric apparatusis unbalanced to cause said motor means to drive said remote counterinto synchronism with said master counter and said iirst clutching meansis slipped so that said motor means is prevented from operating saidreceiver through said first clutching means to rebalance said apparatus.

MARVIN R. LAIN'G.

WATT MYERS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,425,605 Edwards Aug. 12, 19472.456,43() Patterson et al Dec. 14, 1948

